Could Big 12 want ‘Texas cage match’ between S.A. and Houston?

And one of the prime properties in college sports soon could be coming open.

The Cotton Bowl’s annual home team of the Big 12’s best team outside the BCS is available for the highest bidder.

The Cotton Bowl has bigger fish to fry — namely a shot at the staging the upcoming national championship game and some national semifinal contests over the next few years.

So it’s understandable the Big 12 is looking out for its interests by gauging several potential cities to fill in the Cotton Bowl’s spot.

It’s really no surprise that Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby told reporters in Dallas Tuesday that it was a “fair projection” that either the Valero Alamo Bowl in San Antonio or the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Houston will likely moving up in the Big 12’s pecking order.

The Alamo Bowl has a strong history of success with Big 12 teams since its start in 1993. Since then, a current Big 12 member or past one has played in the bowl every season but the first one.

It makes sense that the Big 12 will want to put one of its most attractive teams in either San Antonio or Houston. They would be more apt to drawing larger crowds closer to the center of the league’s interest.

And like anything in the conference business, more money assuredly will capture the Big 12’s collective attention.

The Houston bowl has an edge in stadium with Reliant Stadium, which is newer and bigger than the Alamodome. They also have the leadership of the Houston Texans, who have shown indications they are ready to move up in the bowl business.

The Alamo Bowl has a big run of recent success, capped by the sellout crowd for last month’s game between Texas and Oregon State. It has a strong relationship with ESPN, which the Houston bowl has as well. And it has shown steady growth over its 20-year history.

Houston also has a checkered history supporting college sports. Two bowl games have gone out of business in “The Space City” over the years.

And I bet that Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds still has a pretty good memory of that announced crowd of 2,797 that turned out at Reliant Stadium for a basketball double-header between the Longhorns and UCLA men’s and women’s teams.

Yeah, that UCLA — the one with arguably the richest tradition in the history of the sport.

So if the Big 12 wants to believe that Houston really is a strong college sports town, they might do well to remember Dec. 8 and the MD Anderson Proton Therapy Showcase.